A New Trend?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Video Updates.

According to the Associated Press (AP), Chinese companies are withdrawing from the US stock market amid accusations of improper accounting by some companies, as well as complaints that low share prices do not reflect the true value of Chinese companies. On top of this, the AP note that a state bank has provided $1 billion… Read more »

Robo-Signing Redux

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Debt collection practices focusing on erroneous documents, incomplete records and generic testimony from witnesses in lawsuits by credit card companies is mirroring problems similar to those in the mortgage foreclosure process. According to Noach Dear, a civil court judge in Brooklyn, about 90% of the cases he sees are flawed and cannot prove who the… Read more »

Whistleblower Identifies Unnecessary Heart Procedures

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

In the summer of 2010, a troubling letter reached the chief ethics officer of the hospital giant HCA, written by a former nurse at one of the company’s hospitals in Florida. In less than two months, an internal investigation by HCA concluded the nurse was right. Unnecessary cardiac procedures were being performed to boost HCA’s… Read more »

LIBOR Scandal Widens

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Bank of America, the second largest U.S. bank, has received subpoenas from the U.S.Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and U.K. Financial Services Authority requesting information about the company’s possible role in the rigging of a key international lending benchmark, LIBOR. Regulators have queried at least a dozen banks worldwide about their roles in… Read more »

Gotcha Ya’

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Uncategorized.

Four high-ranking federal lab workers found a way to turn “per diem” funds for a temporary assignment into a steady flow of extra income at taxpayers’ expense. Questions: 1. Explain “per diem.” 2. Based on the article, approximately how much money did each scientist receive fraudulently, per year? 3. How was the scheme discovered and… Read more »

Taken for a Ride When Trading in a Car

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is now going after auto dealers that imply to customer that they have no remaining debt obligation for trade-ins. Five dealers in four states (South Dakota, North Carolina, Connecticut and West Virginia) have already agreed to settlements that order them to stop running ads… Read more »

Traveling Electronically Naked

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized, Video Updates.

When Kenneth G. Lieberthal travels to China, he leaves his cellphone and laptop at home.  As an expert at the Brookings Institute, he instead brings “loaner” devices, which he erases before he leaves the United States and then wipes clean the minute he returns. In China, he disables Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, never lets his phone… Read more »

No More “Neither Admit or Deny”

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The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a fundamental policy shift, said Friday, January 6, that it would no longer allow defendants to say they neither admit nor deny civil fraud or insider trading charges when, at the same time, they admit to or have been convicted of criminal violations. This has been a longstanding practice… Read more »

A Feel-Bad Ending: Swell the Music for Rudy

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

If you look up memorable quotes by Rudy Ruettiger, they exact all the inspirational feelings you can muster about “acting on your dreams.” One of my favorites does not have such a pretty answer, now: –If you knew you couldn’t fail, what would your goals be? Sadly, the answer might be: –To attempt a “pump-and-dump… Read more »

Accounting Error or Change in Estimate?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized, Video Updates.

On November 21, 2011, independent research firm, Gradient Analytics issued a report that questioned whether j2 Global appropriately treated the measurement of annual contacts with eFax customers as a change in estimate. Based on its examination of the j2 Global’s financial disclosures, applicable accounting rules, and limited feedback from the company, Gradient reported that “…the… Read more »